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Wildside

Forget the lottery. Teenager Charlie Newell has just discovered something that will make him and his friends billionaires. What if a world existed in which no humans ever evolved? No cities. No pollution. No laws. A fantastic world filled with unimaginable riches in which everything - everything - was yours just for the taking?

Charlie has found that world. And he plans to use it to make him and his friends rich.There is a problem: How do you keep something this big a secret?

Helm

After global devastation, the last remnants of Earth sent a handful of colonists of a distant terraformed world to give humanity one last, desperate chance. Unable to provide the technology required for an advanced civilization, the founders instilled in the colonists a strict code of conduct and gave them a few precious imprinting devices: glass helmets that contain all of Earth's scientific knowledge. Once in a generation, the heir to the province of Laal begins the arduous training required to survive the imprinting of the Glass Helm and acquire the knowledge of the lost Earth.

Blind Waves

Antarctic ice. In the world where hundreds of millions of people have been displaced from their homes by the Deluge - a hundred-foot-rise in sea level from melting ice caps - Partricia Beenan is lucky. She is still an American citizen with the right to live on the continent, unlike so many 'wetfoots' whose homes lie deep under the waves or the refugees from nations now completely under water.

Daughter of Dragons: The Legacy of Dragons, Book 1

The world of Dematr had been locked unchanging for centuries by the Great Guilds, most people living in a world of oil lamps, crossbows, and horse cavalry, the Mechanics reserving to themselves the technology for steam locomotives, rifles, and far-talkers while the Mages treated all others as if they were nothing - until Master Mechanic Mari, dragon slayer and pirate queen, and Master of Mages Alain raised the army of the new day to free their world.

The Berlin Project

Karl Cohen, a chemist and mathematician who is part of the Manhattan Project team, has discovered an alternate solution for creating the uranium isotope needed to cause a chain reaction: U-235. After convincing General Groves of his new method, Cohen and his team of scientists work at Oak Ridge, preparing to have a nuclear bomb ready to drop by the summer of 1944 in an effort to stop the war on the western front. What ensues is an altered account of World War II in this taut thriller.

Cast Under an Alien Sun: Destiny's Crucible, Book 1

Joe Colsco boarded a flight from San Francisco to Chicago to attend a national chemistry meeting. He would never set foot on Earth again. On planet Anyar, Joe is found unconscious on a beach of a large island inhabited by humans where the level of technology is similar to Earth circa 1700. He awakes amid strangers speaking an unintelligible language and struggles to accept losing his previous life and finding a place in a society with different customs, needing a way to support himself and not knowing a single soul.

Steel World: Undying Mercenaries, Book 1

In the 20th century Earth sent probes, transmissions, and welcoming messages to the stars. Unfortunately, someone noticed. The Galactics arrived with their battle fleet in 2052. Rather than being exterminated under a barrage of hell-burners, Earth joined their vast Empire. Swearing allegiance to our distant alien overlords wasn't the only requirement for survival. We also had to have something of value to trade, something that neighboring planets would pay their hard-earned credits to buy. As most of the local worlds were too civilized to have a proper army, the only valuable service Earth could provide came in the form of soldiers....

We Are Legion (We Are Bob): Bobiverse, Book 1

Bob Johansson has just sold his software company and is looking forward to a life of leisure. There are places to go, books to read, and movies to watch. So it's a little unfair when he gets himself killed crossing the street. Bob wakes up a century later to find that corpsicles have been declared to be without rights, and he is now the property of the state. He has been uploaded into computer hardware and is slated to be the controlling AI in an interstellar probe looking for habitable planets.

Perilous Waif: Alice Long, Book 1

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The World Walker: The World Walker Series, Book 1

Just outside Los Angeles, a prisoner hidden away for 70 years sits up, gets off the bed and disappears through a solid wall. In Australia, a magician impresses audiences by producing real elephants. Nobody realizes it's not an illusion. Across the world, individuals and organizations with supernatural power suddenly detect the presence of something even they can't understand. At the center of it all, Seb Varden, a 32-year old musician with a secret in his past, slits his wrists, is shot dead and run over on the freeway.

Run Program

What's worse than a child with a magnifying glass, a garden full of ants, and a brilliant mind full of mischief? Try Al, a well-meaning but impish artificial intelligence with the mind of a six-year-old and a penchant for tantrums. Hope Takeda, a lab assistant charged with educating and socializing Al, soon discovers that day care is a lot more difficult when your kid is an evolving and easily frightened A.I.

Earthcore

EarthCore is the company with the technology, the resources, and the guts to go after the mother lode. Young executive Connell Kirkland is the company's driving force, pushing himself and those around him to uncover the massive treasure. But at three miles below the surface, where the rocks are so hot they burn bare skin, something has been waiting for centuries. Waiting...and guarding. Kirkland and EarthCore are about to find out first-hand why this treasure has never been unearthed.

Immortal: The Immortal Series, Book 1

Surviving 60,000 years takes cunning and more than a little luck. But in the 21st century, Adam confronts new dangers - someone has found out what he is, a demon is after him, and he has run out of places to hide. Worst of all, he has had entirely too much to drink.

Extracted: Extracted, Book 1

In 2061 a young scientist invents a time machine to fix a tragedy in his past. But his good intentions turn catastrophic when an early test reveals something unexpected: the end of the world. A desperate plan is formed: recruit three heroes, ordinary humans capable of extraordinary things, and change the future.

Off to Be the Wizard

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The Spaceship Next Door

When a spaceship landed in an open field in the quiet mill town of Sorrow Falls, Massachusetts, everyone realized humankind was not alone in the universe. With that realization everyone freaked out for a little while. Or almost everyone. The residents of Sorrow Falls took the news pretty well. This could have been due to a certain local quality of unflappability, or it could have been that in three years the ship did exactly nothing other than sit quietly in that field, and nobody understood the full extent of this nothing the ship was doing better than the people who lived right next door.

Besieged

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Poor Man's Fight: Poor Man's Fight, Book 1

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The Simpleton

It's a moonless summer night when a severely damaged intergalactic spacecraft enters Earth's upper orbit. The alien pilot is desperate. He needs to hold up long enough to make repairs - before his pursuers find him. Cuddy Perkins lives a simple life with his mother, his dog Rufus, and a scattering of farm animals that still inhabit their old, dilapidated, Woodbury Tennessee ranch.

Not Alone

When Dan McCarthy stumbles upon a folder containing evidence of the conspiracy to end all conspiracies - a top-level alien cover-up - he leaks the files without a second thought. The incredible truth revealed by Dan's leak immediately captures the public's imagination, but Dan's relentless commitment to exposing the cover-up and forcing disclosure quickly earns him some enemies in high places.

The Terran Privateer: The Duchy of Terra, Book 1

Earth is conquered. Sol is lost. One ship is tasked to free them. One Captain to save them all. When an alien armada destroys the United Earth Space Force and takes control of the human homeworld, newly reinstated Captain Annette Bond must take her experimental hyperspace cruiser Tornado into exile as Terra's only interstellar privateer. She has inferior technology, crude maps, and no concept of her enemy, but the seedy underbelly of galactic society welcomes her so long as she has prizes to sell and money to spend.

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You will never read Denny Younger's name in any history book, will never know what he's done. But even if you did, you'd never believe it. The world as you know it wouldn't be the same without him. Denny was born into one of the lowest rungs of society, but his bleak fortunes abruptly change when the mysterious Upjohn Institute recruits him to be a Rewinder, a verifier of personal histories. The job at first sounds like it involves researching old books and records, but Denny soon learns it's far from it.

Time Enough for Love: The Lives of Lazarus Long

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Publisher's Summary

Welcome to the territory. Leave your metal behind, all of it. The bugs will eat it, and they'll go right through you to get it. Don't carry it, don't wear it, and for God's sake, don't come here if you've got a pacemaker.

The bugs showed up about 50 years ago - self-replicating, solar-powered, metal-eating machines. No one knows where they came from. They don't like water, though, so they've stayed in the desert Southwest. The territory. People still live here, but they do it without metal. Log cabins, ceramics, what plastic they can get that will survive the sun and heat. Technology has adapted, and so have the people.

Kimble Monroe has chosen to live in the territory. He was born here, and he is extraordinarily well adapted to it. He's one in a million. Maybe one in a billion.

In 7th Sigma, Gould builds an extraordinary SF novel of survival and personal triumph against all the odds.

This is a novelization of Gould's short story, "Bugs of the Arroyo," which is included with little rewriting as part of the story arc. It's a great coming-of-age story set in the desert southwest of the U.S. where a mysterious new technology has forced the abandonment of any and all technologies that require the use of metal. The thoughtful and thought-provoking descriptions of how this would force people to adapt are worth the price of admission all by themselves. In the bargain you get a story of human resilience and adaptability wrapped in some vivid and evocative descriptions of the physical and social world in which the story is set. The only flaw here is a rough and somewhat jarring transition between the new material and the original story (the new material is much better written). It is clear, by the way, that this is the first of at least two books because the mystery of the invasive technology is far from resolved at the end of this volume. Narrator Fred Berman is the perfect reader, so this is a great listen all 'round.

First, let's talk about what 7th Sigma is and is not. Much like Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book was based on the Jungle Book, this is a retelling of another Rudyard Kipling novel - Kim. This is a coming of age adventure story, with SF elements, set against a southwestern backdrop. Yes, there are bugs that eat metal, but this is NOT a Crichton-esque techno thriller or a post-apocalyptic survival story, as it seems to be marketed.

Like Kipling's Kim, this is told as a serial novel, centering around a young boy named Kimble who is growing up - the major SF divergence is that it takes place in The Territory, where bugs eat everything metal. The people who choose to stay here learn to make due without metal - be it the rivets in their jeans, the lead in their rifles, or chips in their computers. But that's really just the setting, and it sounds more gritty than it is. In general, it's a sweet little coming of age story about Kimble finding his place in the world beside his mentor and sensei Ruth, and Col. Bentham, who he occasionally works for.

Unfortunately, since Kimble is such a capable and intelligent aikido student, whenever there is conflict, there's never really any doubt who will come out on top. And one of the few times when Kimble gets in over his head, happens outside the narrative. As a result, the espionage bits that make up the second half of the book drag a bit. Additionally, there's little shades of grey in this half - the bad guys might as well be wearing black hats. There's an honesty to the narrative when it's focusing on Kimble's relationships and interactions to the people he cares about in The Territory, and that's when the book is most rewarding. But when it veers off to him learning to be a spy, it didn't work as well for me.

A 50-something who loves sci-fi, cozy mysteries, thrillers, an occasional romance, and any genre if it is a good story. And especially if it makes me laugh! No vampires or zombies though - these are NOT sci-fi!

I just finished listening to this book for the second time since I originally downloaded it several months ago. It's that good! Steven Gould is an excellent writer, and his unusual scenarios set him apart from other sci-fi writers.

Kimball is a street child in The Territory, a place where metal and EM cannot be used because of 'bugs' - metal and EM loving tiny robots, that mindlessly destroy anything in their way if they sense either substance. The idea of no cell phones or cars! Aaaaah! Kim's adventures are riveting. You will enjoy it! Now, if Steven would just write a sequel....

The relative weakness of the reading would have been acceptable if the story were stronger. Both it and the presentation just missed on several level, which made for an overall "meh" book.

The story never seemed to find a rhythm or coalesce around a cohesive plot direction. Several times it felt like a new and potentially interesting thread was being introduced, only to have the story slide back into the mundane.

The reader was not particularly compelling, either. I found myself grinding my jaw often when some of the characters would speak, wishing Mr. Herman would dial back the characterization or simply read in his own voice. Actually, I'm not entirely sure he ever did read in his own voice. The entire narration sounded as if it were being "Acted".

The sci-fi element of the story was disappointing, though the world created by the author was fully formed and intriguing. The ending of the book left many plot threads hanging. The author seemed more interested in keeping an opening for a sequel than in tying up the many loose ends.

This story is both well written and well read. The narrator does not try to overdo the different characters; the narration could be described as a simple reading without too much role playing. I prefer this to the somewhat overdone "acting" in some others. The characters are interesting and the addition of new elements as the story progresses makes you feel that you are "living it" rather than being told about it.

Don't let the cover fool you. This is a coming of age story about a teenage boy. The setting has some sci-fi elements, but very little of that makes it into the story. And the story itself is fairly banal.

The only mildly interesting plot line is left totally open at the end, presumably for a couple more books. I for one won't be coming back to find out what happens.

This book could have easily turned into a Michael Chrichton-esque piece of sci-fi silliness. Instead, it's surprisingly human, engaging adventure story. More a spy story set in the American Old West than a techno-thriller.

Great listen for anyone who enjoys a good adventure and interesting characters, not just sci-fi fans (the blurb and cover art really don't do it justice).

I like the book; however, I do not see it is a Sci-Fi book. I kept waiting for something to happen but the book just went on and on about the life of this boy. The writing is great, but I felt I was reading a diary.

The book had decent start.. but then diverges into chapter after chapter of short stories that have little to do with an overall plot.. It's like a collection of Hardy-Boy mysteries. (Underscore Boy) It's about an adolescent boy, coming of age and gifted with good martial arts skills, idealistic morals... and he's got a pet mule, named Mrs. Pedecares. Together boy and mule set out on different missions/journeys to fight crime.. He fights the bad guys with his high morals and his dojo stick. Towards the middle of the book, I was rooting for the antagonists to vanquish the brat, and for the book to come to an abrupt ending, providing me with a quick exit to my suffering. There are some mechanical robot bugs too.. They have something to do with the plot.. I think.. And nothing in the book has reference to the books title; not that it has to, but it's a bit odd, naming a teen-novel after a quality control process for manufacturing.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and stayed up late at night as I did not want to switch it off. It is well read, with enough differentiation in the character voices to keep track of who is who. An easy voice to listen to without getting annoyed at the narrator. You need to have some idea of the setting to get into this book. Set in the future where an area known as the territory has been invaded by bugs that feed on metal, anyone who lives there has to live without anything metal. Ceramic guns, clay ovens for cooking, horses for transport etc. Despite being set in the future, the way of life feels like an old fashioned western at times. Lots of intrigue & different happenings to keep you interested, with a good main plot running throughout. Very different to Jumper but a similarly engaging writing style and great likeable characters with real feelings that you can relate to. I like the authors attention to detail and it is as believable as a book like this could ever be.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

MarieSciFiAddict

Norwich UK

4/16/16

Overall

Performance

Story

"Strange story without direction."

After having this in my Audible library for over a year I finally decided to finish it. I tried a few times and couldn't get past the first few chapters.

It's an odd story. It meanders along slowly like a winding stream. There doesn't seem to be a story line as such just various stories about things that happen to a teenage boy called Kimble. At one point the story jumps forward as Kimble is reminiscing about one 'job' but it's not until 2 chapters further that you find out the story is suddenly 3 years in the future.

I brought this book on my love of the Jumper series, mostly the excellent Reflex and Exo. I think that overall looking back the original ideas Steven Gould had about Kimble and the bugs are excellent but he hasn't managed to bring them together into a cohesive liquid script.

Maybe reading this in paper would be easier, but in Audible format it's so fragmented that I found myself having to rewind a minute or so to be able to pick the story up again.

Narration is brilliant. Very enjoyable and characters clearly recognisable.

Overall I give it a Good. Maybe one for a long journey so you can get your teeth stuck into it.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

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